Uh oh... tranny fluid mixed with coolant?

[Galimore]

So I spent the last few days installing a new head unit in my 2012 GT since my Scosche dash kit finally came in. I went out a couple of hours ago to grab some food and let the car idle for a bit while I made a call on the new HU. After ~10 minutes I noticed a burning smell and a few seconds later got white smoke coming from the hood.

I immediately turned it off and popped the hood. The smoke was coming from the radiator cap and there was a significant amount of red fluid leaking both from the cap and on the ground. After it cooled down I unscrewed the cap and there was a large pool of what I assume is tranny fluid mixed in with the coolant. I'm having it towed the the dealership in the morning but I'm pretty bummed out that it's having it's first problem after only ~4k miles. Anybody have a clue what the problem could be?

 

[alex12gt]

not tranny fluid..... the coolant is red

 

[Galimore]

not tranny fluid..... the coolant is red

That's weird, it's been green in every other car I've owned. When I unscrewed the cap it looked like it was 90% milky fluid with a small pool of red in the center.

 

[kingnut]

oke:

 

[1hot281]

That's weird, it's been green in every other car I've owned. When I unscrewed the cap it looked like it was 90% milky fluid with a small pool of red in the center.

Coolant comes in many colors. Green, yellow, red, gold, purple...

Though as far as i know, it should never be milky. :??:

 

[1Sick2Valve]

It's actually orange.

 

[Bluebolt]

In the resivoir it looks red but it's actually orange like 1sick2valvr said.

 

[five0three]

milky? head gasket? did you look at the condition of the oil?

 

[Aceswild 02]

T-stat issue?

 

[JerryC]

T-stat issue?

Or killed the fuse that drives the cooling fan during the radio install?

 

[D.T.R]

Coolant comes in many colors. Green, yellow, red, gold, purple...

Though as far as i know, it should never be milky. :??:

It also comes blue.... at least that's how 2 of my previous Acuras were

 

[Aceswild 02]

Or killed the fuse that drives the cooling fan during the radio install?

I think we are on the right track...

 

[MikeLTDLX]

Milky? Were you pushing steam out of the exhaust?

Mike

 

[11GT50]

Or killed the fuse that drives the cooling fan during the radio install?

Sounds like a possibility.

My guess is the engine overheated while he was sitting there idling, the head gasket is toast and that's motor oil mixed in there with the coolant. It won't be a cheap fix but hopefully you can convince Ford to cover it.

Did you check your oil? Did you happen to notice if the car was overheating? CEL?

 

[runs2rch]

Or killed the fuse that drives the cooling fan during the radio install?

:bash: :thumbsup:

Hopefully Ford covers it. If they find the problem it will be on you.

 

[Galimore]

Or killed the fuse that drives the cooling fan during the radio install?

Seems likely now that I know that's it just coolant. I think I was just seeing things in the dark, I didn't notice anything milky when I went to check on it this morning. The coolant is very low but seems to be at the same level it was at last night so hopefully the problem is just a fuse. I'll go check it in a few hours when I get a chance.

It's odd though, I drove the car over several days both during the install and after for much longer than I let it idle last night and didn't have any overheating problems. No smoke from the exhaust and the oil on the dipstick seemed normal so I very much doubt I blew a head gasket.

 

[scott_0]

lol sorry, but how did you think trans fluid migrated to the coolant? possible with a motorcycle as they share the trans and motor oil but a car.........

 

[Galimore]

lol sorry, but how did you think trans fluid migrated to the coolant? possible with a motorcycle as they share the trans and motor oil but a car.........

I was under the impression that there are typically a couple of transmission cooling lines running to the radiator, but I could be completely wrong.

 

[kevinp]

I was under the impression that there are typically a couple of transmission cooling lines running to the radiator, but I could be completely wrong.

Most auto cars run the transmission cooler inside the radiator so they can indeed leak into coolant, or coolant leak into the trans fluid depending on which has more pressure. Neither is a good thing.

But these have a pretty large separate trans cooler so no chance of that happening.